DAM Scenario 2: Multilingual Brand Management

Multilingual Content

Multilingual brand management is like basic brand management, except that it adds on the need to support simultaneous access to the same assets in multiple languages.

Critically, the system must begin to support some "object-oriented" aspects with respect to information management. (This will become even more pronounced in some of the sophisticated, multichannel scenarios to follow.) Specifically, the system must be able to account for "sibling" relationships at both the asset and data levels, and in some cases parent-child relationships.

This scenario may also entail more advanced workflows to govern rules around downstream approvals. For example, a Canadian organization may say that an image with English-language content cannot go live until the French-equivalent is also approved.

Multilingual Metadata

Beyond the content itself, every piece of metadata for every asset must exist in all the languages required by the installation. The DAM system not only must support a multilingual metadata model at the asset level but also has to support workflows for maintaining that metadata in all the necessary languages.

DAM system support for multilingual metadata goes far beyond internationalization. Internationalization means that the DAM system can support the user experience in another language. Typically, the screens, label names, error messages, and input fields support the language of choice. It doesn’t necessarily mean that the DAM system can support a metadata model in which every metadata field can have N different values of both the field name and field value, where N is the number of simultaneous languages used to access the DAM system. To support a multilingual metadata model, the DAM system needs to provide every experience in the language of choice. Further, it must support a metadata model that allows for a metadata field that can exist in multiple languages simultaneously.

For instance, if the "Name" metadata field for a photo asset in English is "A black cat," in Spanish the same field is "Nombre," and the value is "Un gato negro." It would be the same for French, German, and every other supported language.

Further, the DAM system can support searches only in the chosen language when necessary. A search for "gato negro" would yield those assets that matched the criteria, while someone else searching for "black cat" would get the same results. As you walk through this example, you get a feel for the potential workflow challenge of entering and maintaining the same metadata in multiple languages. Any change in any language may require a change in all languages. As a result, multilingual brand management becomes significantly more challenging, both for the multilingual metadata requirements and the potential corresponding localization workflows.

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